Wal-Mart starts selling coffins

[Andrew of Ware]

The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, now plans to hold on to customers even after they die - by selling coffins.

Prices range from a "Mom" or "Dad Remembered" steel coffin for $895 (£540), to a bronze model at $2,899.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8333198.stm

I reckon that the bronze coffin would cost about £1,750 which seems a lot. Mind you, most coffins in the UK are made of wood which would not cost as much.

As the article makes clear, though, selling coffins on their own means that you lose the personal contact that funeral parlours offer.

[jw]

Given the time of year, I was expecting this thread to be about some sort of Halloween prop!

[JoeBentley]

Originally Posted by Andrew of Ware

As the article makes clear, though, selling coffins on their own means that you lose the personal contact that funeral parlours offer.

Which is a good thing. The funeral industry can be horribly predatory on people at their time of need because of this "personal contact." 895$ is far below the price of coffins funeral homes push on the loved ones of the recently deceased.

The problem is people don't like to think about death so they go into funeral homes with no information. If the funeral director tells you that 2,000+ (which is the average coffin price in the US) is a good price you aren't really prepared to argue. Coffins being sold openly in places like Wal-mart and Costco will help prevent this.

http://www.funerals.org/

[Jay Tea]

[chocolate kisses]

I wonder if the funeral home will accept your Walmart coffin or will they claim they cannot be sure the Walmart coffin meets such-and-such regulation.

But an industry spokesman said it was not gravely concerned about Wal-Mart's move because he said the firm could not offer bereaved families the human touch.

*snerk*

[babyshoes]

Originally Posted by JoeBentley

Which is a good thing. The funeral industry can be horribly predatory on people at their time of need because of this "personal contact." 895$ is far below the price of coffins funeral homes push on the loved ones of the recently deceased.

When my FIL died, DH handled all the arrangements. He had no idea how much the coffin was; the prices weren't marked. The funeral home was part of a national chain.

When my mother died, I made all the arrangements. All the coffins were marked with the cost; I chose the least expensive one, which was $600. That funeral home was local and family-owned.

They can be horribly predatory--you have to pick carefully.

[ElectricBarbarella]

Cremation avoids this yanno. And the urn they give you is sufficient enough to put your ashes in.



E "just feed me to the sharks" B

[Jay Tea]

Originally Posted by ElectricBarbarella

Cremation avoids this yanno. And the urn they give you is sufficient enough to put your ashes in.

It 'can' do, but the funeral industry will still attempt to foist an expensive coffin on you. Millions of well-built coffins are incinerated every year as the funeral directors are rolling in the aisles...

[Auntie Witch]

We still had to buy a coffin for Mom for the service, and it had to be specially designed for cremation. Now, had we just sent her on and held services after her remains returned, we could have skipped that cost, but we wanted to move on things as quickly as possible.

[vanilla]

Originally Posted by ElectricBarbarella

Cremation avoids this yanno. And the urn they give you is sufficient enough to put your ashes in.

IME, the urn is a separate cost. Cremated remains are packaged in a plastic bag and then placed in a cardboard box. If you want to place the ashes in an urn, you have to buy it as they don't just "give" it to you.

[DemonWolf]

Originally Posted by JoeBentley

Which is a good thing. The funeral industry can be horribly predatory on people at their time of need because of this "personal contact." 895$ is far below the price of coffins funeral homes push on the loved ones of the recently deceased.

The problem is people don't like to think about death so they go into funeral homes with no information. If the funeral director tells you that 2,000+ (which is the average coffin price in the US) is a good price you aren't really prepared to argue. Coffins being sold openly in places like Wal-mart and Costco will help prevent this.

http://www.funerals.org/

Not to mention that the bereaved is probably not in the mood to haggle. His/her loved one has just passed away and s/he is probably not thinking too straight. And in the case os a few people I know, were taking perscription medication to cope with things until the funeral is over.

[snapdragonfly]

All the posts mentioning how predatory the funeral industry is - it's even worse than that.

My mom chose that industry to do her consumer economics study when she was getting her home ec degree at A&M and the boldness and callousness of the shenanigans (often codified by their good friends in the state government, in the case of Texas especially) are just really jaw dropping, and contemptable.

My dad has a story about going back to one of his reunions to find one alumni had gone into the industry and he told him the hardest part of his job was looking solemn during a 24,000.00 funeral.

I know someone has to do it but can they be accused of being anything less than vultures when they prey on the fact that people are so emotionally distraught to pull these sneaky moves on them?

Texas has some real cute little quirks in the law that very interestingly make up for a lot of extra and unnecessary cost.

[AnglRdr]

The funeral industry lobby is mighty, mighty powerful, particularly on a state level, and is very loosely regulated.

Also, federal law requires funeral homes to use coffins purchased from outside vendors.

[snapdragonfly]

Originally Posted by AnglRdr

The funeral industry lobby is mighty, mighty powerful, particularly on a state level, and is very loosely regulated.

Also, federal law requires funeral homes to use coffins purchased from outside vendors.

IIRC, that law is fairly recent and was passed over HUGE objections, obviously, from the funeral industry. (if it had been left to the state level I seriously doubt it would have happened in Texas) And I haven't had to find out from experience but I wonder if the legislation included requiring the funeral homes to inform and disclaim their customers, or if that's something that they can just sort of not inform you as they show you their brochures. That's a real good sales trick, to get you all involved in the details of deciding about this or that option, so it doesn't even occur to you to look somewhere else. And the nature of this product is not like shopping for new eyeglasses or something where you can easily say "well we are going to just look around a bit before we decide" and then go coffin shopping. And they know it.

I had a friend whose father died and she observed that some of the coffins they were shown were LITERALLY the same price as an automobile at the time. (late 80's) Don't know if the inflation of the cost of cars exceeded that of coffins since then, but jeez.

As much as I think Walmart brings a good deal of evil into the world, sometimes there is (albiet unintentionally) a good effect. If people become aware that as a consumer they do have choices even for burial issues, they won't be such easy prey for unscrupulous funeral industry practises.